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Since the 21st century, international corporate social responsibility attracts great attention. With the continuous improvement of consumers' maturity, they become more and more sensitive to international corporate social responsibility and have higher requirements for corporate to fulfill social responsibility. Besides, the buying decision is affected by international corporate social responsibility more and more apparently. Hence, the research into the impacts of international corporate social responsibility on consumers' buying behavior is of great significance. In the research, consumer identity was set as intervening variable to investigate how consumer buying behavior was affected by corporate social responsibility. After theoretical model was constructed and research hypothesis was put forward, questionnaire investigation approach was adopted for empirical study. It was demonstrated that the significance values of age, occupation, and education level in each factor were small with great differences.

Gas sensor arrays have been prepared using tin oxide gas sensing materials synthesized by biotemplate method and hydrothermal reaction, combined with neural network algorithms to predict the concentration of gas mixtures.

To mitigate IPv4 exhaustion, IPv6 provides expanded address space, and NAT allows a single public IPv4 address to suffice for many devices assigned private IPv4 address space. Even though NAT has greatly extended the shelf-life of IPv4, some networks need more private IPv4 space than what is officially allocated by IANA due to their size and/or network management practices. Some of these networks resort to using squat space , a term the network operations community uses for large public IPv4 address blocks allocated to organizations but historically never announced to the Internet. While squatting of IP addresses is an open secret, it introduces ethical, legal, and technical problems. In this work we examine billions of traceroutes to identify thousands of organizations squatting. We examine how they are using it and what happened when the US Department of Defense suddenly started announcing what had traditionally been squat space. In addition to shining light on a dirty secret of operational practices, our paper shows that squatting distorts common Internet measurement methodologies, which we argue have to be re-examined to account for squat space.

Four TM1TM2@C9N4 candidates (TM1TM2 = NiRu, FeNi, TiNi, and NiZr) with end-on N2 adsorption configuration, and two candidates (TM1TM2 = TiNi and TiFe) with side-on adsorption configuration, were screened out as high efficiency NRR catalysts.

Bio-based vitrimers based on dynamic transesterification were cured from divanillic acids and epoxidized soybean oil. These materials exhibited satisfactory thermal and mechanical properties, and could be reprocessed at high temperatures.

Dipeptidase 2 (DPEP2) is a dipeptidyl peptidase that plays an important role in the hydrolysis of leukotriene D4 (LTD4) to leukotriene E4 (LTE4). Previous studies have suggested that LTD4 promotes tumor progression and survival in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Therefore, we hypothesized that DPEP2 may play a pivotal role in this tumor. Given that lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) is the most common subtype of NSCLC, our study aimed to examine the expression and function of DPEP2 in LUAD. Based on bioinformatics and the analysis of clinical samples, our findings revealed that DPEP2 is highly expressed in normal lung tissues, but downregulated in LUAD tissues, and its expression levels were significantly associated with clinical indicators of tumor grade and prognosis. Pathway enrichment analysis showed that DPEP2 is involved in biological processes such as chemokine signaling pathways, leukocyte trans-endothelial migration, and humoral immune responses in LUAD. In addition, DPEP2 expression was significantly associated with various immune cells, especially monocytes–macrophages. Single-cell transcriptome data further confirmed the expression of DPEP2 dominantly in macrophages from normal lung tissues. Analysis of the TCIA database revealed that high DPEP2 expression is associated with a stronger response to immune checkpoint inhibitors such as CTLA4 and PD1, and determines sensitivity to LUAD therapeutic agents. Furthermore, we found that DPEP2 inhibits the migration and invasion of LUAD cells. Therefore, DPEP2 may serve as a potential immune biomarker and therapeutic target for LUAD, providing novel therapeutic approaches for this disease.

Hydrogels are extracellular-matrix-like biomimetic materials that have wide biomedical applications in tissue engineering and drug delivery. However, most hydrogels cannot simultaneously fulfill the mechanical and cell compatibility requirements. In the present study, we prepared a semi-interpenetrating network composite gel (CG) by incorporating short chain chitosan (CS) into a covalent tetra-armed poly(ethylene glycol) network. In addition to satisfying physicochemical, mechanics, biocompatibility, and cell affinity requirements, this CG easily encapsulated acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) via electrostatic interactions and chain entanglement, achieving sustained release for over 14 days and thus promoting periodontal ligament stem cell (PDLSC) proliferation and osteogenic differentiation. In vivo studies corroborated the capacity of PDLSCs and ASA-laden CG to enhance new bone regeneration in situ using a mouse calvarial bone defect model. This might be attributed to PDLSCs and host mesenchymal stem cells expressing monocyte chemoattractant protein-1, which upregulated M2 macrophage recruitment and polarization in situ, indicating its appealing potential in bone tissue engineering., Graphical abstract Image 1, Highlights • A facile method to prepare the composite gels with advantages of easy operation, good biocompatibility and biodegradability. • Composite gels can simultaneously fulfill the mechanical strength and cell-compatibility requirements. • Composite gels can achieve the loading and sustained release of acetylsalicylic acid via electrostatic interaction and chain entanglement. • Acetylsalicylic-acid-encapsulated composite gel is paramount to promote PDLSCs-mediated bone regeneration. • The underlying mechanism might be associated with upregulation of MCP-1 and macrophage M2 polarization.

Virtual power plant (VPP) provides a flexible solution to distributed energy resources integration by aggregating renewable generation units, conventional power plants, energy storages, and flexible demands. This paper proposes a novel stochastic adaptive robust optimization (SARO) model for determining the optimal self-scheduling plan for VPP's participation in the day-ahead energy-reserve market. We consider exogenous uncertainties (or called decision-independent uncertainties, DIUs) associated with market clearing prices and available wind generation, as well as endogenous uncertainties (or called decision-dependent uncertainties, DDUs) pertaining to real-time reserve deployment requests. A tractable solution methodology based on modified Benders dual decomposition is developed to effectively solve the proposed SARO model with both DIUs and DDUs. Case studies are conducted to verify the efficiency and applicability of the proposed approach. Comparative results show that the proposed method can mitigate the conservatism of robust strategy by capturing a satisfactory trade-off between profitability and real-time operation feasibility.

Multicellular aggregates have been widely utilized for regenerative medicine; however, the heterogeneous structure and undesired bioactivity of cell-only aggregates hinder their clinical translation. In this study, we fabricated an innovative kind of microparticle-integrated cellular aggregate with multifunctional activities in angiogenesis and osteogenesis, by combining stem cells from human exfoliated deciduous teeth (SHEDs) and bioactive composite microparticles. The poly(lactide

The electrochemical nitrogen reduction reaction (eNRR) to NH

Background Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) affects the immune balance of pregnant women and their offspring. However, most studies on cord blood have not yielded satisfactory results. Most studies in the field of epigenetics have problems such as small data size, unqualified sampling, cannot be repeated verification, the results are not significant, and usually, there is no multi-omics analysis. Therefore, it is difficult to systematically reveal the critical factors of epigenetic changes in GDM on the immune function of the offspring of GDM pregnant women. Results We randomly recruited 30 pregnant women, including 20 pregnant women with GDM (experimental group) and 10 pregnant women without GDM (control group). 9327 genes in hyper-methylated DMPs, 10908 genes in hypo-methylated DMPs, 42 genes in hyper-methylated DMRs, and 209 genes in hypo-methylated DMRs were identified. Through integration analysis with multiple datasets in the GEO public database, it was found that the genes obtained by DMPs were more accurate than those obtained by DMRs. Through data analysis, we got two groups of gene sets, and functional analysis found that they were related to human immune function. After immune infiltration analysis, it was found that CD4T cells were significantly reduced in the cord blood of pregnant GDM women. To further verify the effect of GDM on cord blood immune function, the integration analysis of the two gene sets identified HIST1H1B and PRTN3 genes. Among them, the cg24587427 and cg00700007 sites of the HIST1H1B gene were significantly correlated with the amount of CD4T cells in the cord blood. Conclusions In this study, we broke the previous lack of practical results from cord blood in terms of epigenetics and confirmed that the changes in the intrauterine environment of pregnant women with GDM affect the immune function of newborns.

Development of artificial biomaterials by mimicking extracellular matrix of bone tissue is a promising strategy for bone regeneration. Hydrogel has emerged as a type of viable substitute, but its inhomogeneous networks and weak mechanics greatly impede clinical applications. Here, a dual crosslinked gelling system is developed with tunable architectures and mechanics to promote osteogenic capacity. Polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) is designated as a rigid core surrounded by six disulfide-linked PEG shells and two 2-ureido-4[1H]-pyrimidinone (UPy) groups. Thiol-disulfide exchange is employed to fabricate chemical network because of the pH-responsive "on/off" function. While self-complementary UPy motif is capable of optimizing local microstructure to enhance mechanical properties. Taking the merits of biocompatibility and high-mechanics in periodontal ligament stem cells (PDLSCs) proliferation, attachment, and osteogenesis, hybrid hydrogel exhibits outstanding osteogenic potential both in vitro and in vivo. Importantly, it is the first time that a key epigenetic regulator of ten-eleven translocation 2 (Tet2) is discovered to significantly elevate the continuously active the WNT/β-catenin through Tet2/HDAC1/E-cadherin/β-catenin signaling cascade, thereby promoting PDLSCs osteogenesis. This work represents a general strategy to design the hydrogels with customized networks and biomimetic mechanics, and illustrates underlying osteogenic mechanisms that will extend the design rationales for high-functional biomaterials in tissue engineering.

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is one of the top 15 most prevalent cancers worldwide. However, the current treatment models for OSCC (e.g., surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and combination therapy) present several limitations: damage to adjacent healthy tissue, possible recurrence, low efficiency, and severe side effects. In this context, nanomaterial-based photothermal therapy (PTT) has attracted extensive research attention. This paper reviews the latest progress in the application of biological nanomaterials for PTT in OSCC. We divide photothermal nanomaterials into four categories (noble metal nanomaterials, carbon-based nanomaterials, metal compounds, and organic nanomaterials) and introduce each category in detail. We also mention in detail the drug delivery systems for PTT of OSCC and briefly summarize the applications of hydrogels, liposomes, and micelles. Finally, we note the challenges faced by the clinical application of PTT nanomaterials and the possibility of further improvement, providing direction for the future research of PTT in OSCC treatment.

In this paper, pure Sn O 2 , Cu/Sn O 2 , ZnO and Cu/ZnO gas sensitive materials were synthesized by a simple hydrothermal reaction and used to prepare a gas sensor array. The morphological structure and composition of the synthesized materials were characterized using SEM and XRD, respectively. The sensor array was combined with the back propagation neural network algorithm optimized by the sparrow search algorithm (SSA-BPNN) and applied to effectively identify the types of mixed toxic gases in the room, including formaldehyde, ammonia and xylene. The combination of sensor array with optimized neural network algorithms achieved a good classification result for gas mixture and the classification accuracy can reach 93.45% for different classes of mixtures composed of three gases (formaldehyde, ammonia, and xylene). Therefore, the sensor array combined with the SSA-BP algorithm in this study has done a good work in the qualitative identification of ternary gas mixtures and has some application potential.

Grid-side electrochemical battery energy storage systems (BESS) have been increasingly deployed as a fast and flexible solution to promoting renewable energy resources penetration. However, high investment cost and revenue risk greatly restrict its grid-scale applications. As one of the key factors that affect investment cost, the cycle life of battery heavily depends on its charging/discharging actions during the operation, particularly in the presence of uncertain renewable generation. In this context, it is necessary to consider the operation-dependent cycle life of batteries in optimal BESS sizing, which imposes great challenges to the modeling and solving of the planning problems. In this paper, we propose a novel two-level optimal sizing model for grid-scale BESS, considering its operation under uncertainties induced by volatile wind generation. In the lower level, a long-term chronological operation simulation of BESS is processed with an accurate cycle life model of batteries; in the upper level, marginal economic utility analysis and BESS size reforming are conducted to approach the optimal size of BESS. An iterative algorithm is designed to solve the model effectively. The proposed method is verified on a modified IEEE RTS-24 system and a real provincial power grid of China.

As one of the national critical infrastructures, the water distribution system supports our daily life and economic growth, the failure of which may lead to catastrophic results. Besides the uncertainty from the system component failures, cyberattacks are vital to the secure system operation and have great impacts on the reliability of the water supply service. Malicious attackers may intrude into the supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system of pump stations in the water distribution networks and interrupt the water supply to the customers. Cyber insurance is emerging as a promising financial tool in system risk management. In this paper, cyber insurance is proposed for the cyber risk management of the water distribution system. A semi-Markov process (SMP) model is devised to model the cyberattacks against pump stations in the water distribution system. Both the impacts of the independent cyber risks in the individual distribution network and the correlated cyber risks shared across different water distribution networks are evaluated and modeled. A sequential Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS) based algorithm is developed to evaluate the system loss. Cyber insurance premiums for the water distribution networks are designed based on the actuarial principles and potential system losses. Case studies are also performed on multiple representative water distribution networks, and the results demonstrate the validity of the proposed cyber insurance model.

Zenghou Yi Tomb (433 BC) in the early Warring States Period of China is a very important archaeological discovery. Lots of lacquerware was unearthed here, typically representative of that from Chu in the Warring States Period. This article presents analyses of the lacquered inner coffin and a lacquered zither from the tomb, and their surface is red lacquer, supplemented by additional black and yellow patterns. Yellow painted lacquerware remains relatively rare from this period and therefore deserves further study. Numerous methods including three-dimensional (3D) video microscopy and scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectroscopy (Py-GC/MS), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy as well as enzyme-linked immunoassay (ELISA) were adopted to analyze the lacquer and pigments from the two artifacts. The results of this study reveal that lacquer samples from both the two artifacts have multilayered structures and contained added eggs and oil. The red pigment on the lacquer surface was made of cinnabar mixed with lacquer, the black one was carbon black mixed with lacquer, while the yellow one was pararealgar mixed with gelatin. These differences may explain the relative rarity of yellow painted lacquerware from early periods.

Multiyear drought has been demonstrated to cause non-stationary rainfall–runoff relationship. But whether this change can occur in catchments that have also experienced vegetation change and whether it invalidates the most widely used methods for estimating impacts of vegetation change – i.e., the paired-catchment method (PCM), the time–trend method (TTM), and the sensitivity-based method (SBM) – on runoff is still unknown and rarely discussed. Estimated inconsistent afforestation impacts were 32.8 %, 93.5 %, and 76.1 % of total runoff changes in the Red Hill paired experimental catchments in Australia during the period of 1990–2015 by the PCM, TTM, and SBM, respectively. In addition to afforestation, the Red Hill paired experimental catchments have experienced a 10-year drought (2000–2009) and have been demonstrated to lead to non-stationary rainfall–runoff relationships of paired catchments. Estimated impacts of vegetation change by the PCM (32.8 %) is still reliable and is not invalided by multiyear drought-induced non-stationarity, because the PCM can eliminate all impacts by different factors on paired catchments (multiyear drought and climate variability), except the purposed treatment (afforestation). For the TTM and SBM, traditional application did not further differentiate different drivers of non-stationary rainfall–runoff relationship (i.e., multiyear drought and vegetation change), which led to significant overestimation of afforestation effects. A new framework was further proposed to separate the effects of three factors on runoff changes, including vegetation change, climate variability, and hydroclimatic non-stationarity (i.e., multiyear drought). Based on the new framework, impacts of multiyear drought and climate variability on runoff of the control catchment (Kileys Run) were 87.2 % and 12.8 %, respectively. Impacts of afforestation, multiyear drought, and climate variability on runoff of the treated catchment (Red Hill) were 32.8 %, 54.7 %, and 23.9 %, respectively. Impacts of afforestation on runoff were 38.8 % by the TTM and 21.4 % by the SBM, agreeing well with that by the PCM (32.8 %). This study not only demonstrated that multiyear drought can induce non-stationary rainfall–runoff relationship using field observations, but also proposed a new framework to better separate the impact of vegetation change on runoff under climate-induced non-stationary condition. More importantly, it is shown that non-stationarity induced by multiyear drought does not invalidate the PCM, and PCM is still the most reliable method even though the control catchment experienced climate-induced shift in the rainfall–runoff relationship.

Cleft lip and/or palate (CL/P) is a most common craniofacial birth defect which has multifactorial etiology. In our study, we aimed to discover the underlying etiological gene variation in a Chinese family diagnosed as non-syndromic CL/P (NSCL/P). The blood sample of the proband and her parents were detected by whole exome sequencing. The Mendelian inheritance pattern, allele frequency, variation location, function analysis and literature search were applied to filtrate and screen the mutation. Besides, the candidates were confirmed by Sanger sequencing. We meanwhile explored the conservative analysis and protein homology simulation. As a result, a start-lost mutation c.1A > GAtg/Gtg in the Frizzled-6 (FZD6) gene predicting p.Met1 was detected. The variation has not been reported before and was predicted to be harmful. The alteration caused missing of two starting amino acids that are evolutionarily conserved for FZD6 protein. Moreover, the specific structure of the mutant protein obviously changed according to the results of the homologous model. In conclusion, the results suggest c.1A > GAtg/Gtg in the FZD6 (NM_001164616) might be the genetic etiology for non-syndromic CL/P in this pedigree. Furthermore, this finding provided new etiologic information, supplementing the evidence that FZD6 is a strong potential gene for CL/P.

It is known that exposed surface determines material’s performance. WO3 is widely used in gas sensing and its working surface is proposed to control its sensitivity. However, the working surface, or most exposed surface with detailed surface structure remain unclear. In this paper, DFT calculation confirmed that oxygen vacancy O-terminated surface is the most exposed hexagonal WO3 (001) surface, judging from competitive adsorption of CO and O2, working surface determination for CO sensing and comparison of oxygen vacancy formation energies on different h-WO3 (001) surfaces. It is found that DFT can be a useful alternate for exposed surface determination. Our results provide new perspectives and performance explanations for material research.

State-of-the-art autonomous micro-robotic turtles suffer from various limitations, such as power restrictions that minimize their deployment times. In this paper, an Ionic Polymer Metal Composite (IPMC) actuator-based centimeter-level biomimetic underwater robot was designed and developed as a robotic turtle with self-charging capabilities to overcome such limitations. It could move forward and make turns driven by five IPMCs on the water. The underwater charging station was able to transmit wideband ultrasonic and electromagnetic fields for electromagnetic induction charging. An ultrasonic communication system with one ultrasonic transmitter and two ultrasonic receivers was first fabricated to implement communication between the underwater station and the biomimetic underwater robot for autonomous tracking and rechargeable capabilities. Experiments were carried out to confirm the operation of the biomimetic underwater robot, which verified the centimeter-level rechargeable capabilities and autonomous target tracking features. The micro-robot demonstrated a self-tracking radial displacement error of approximately 6 mm and a charging reliability rate of more than 73%.

Ammonia is one of the most common gases in life, which is produced in industrial emissions and agricultural activities. Therefore, effective detection of ammonia at low concentrations is vital for human health. Tin disulfide (SnS2) by virtue of its physical affinity and high surface area has become a promising material for gas sensing applications. The flower-like S-doped SnO2 3D hierarchical structure was succeeded in preparation via a two-step method. A variety of methods such as XRD, SEM, and TEM were utilized to characterize the prepared materials for the investigation of their surface morphological characteristics and elemental content. The morphological characterization analysis indicated that the prepared material was a self-assembled hierarchical flower-like SnS2 modified by SnO2 nanoparticles. In addition, the results from the elemental composition analysis showed the existence of Sn, O, and S elements in the material. Through experiments, we further tested the sensitivity, selectivity, and long-term stability of the S-doped SnO2 gas-sensitive material against NH3 at room temperature, and analyzed its sensing mechanism. As a result, the S-doped SnO2 was tested with a response value of 3.6 for 50 ppm ammonia’s outstanding performance in terms of selectivity and long-term stability. This work highlights the advantages of flower-like S-doped SnO2 3D hierarchical structures for NH3 sensors.

The failure of the gold wire bonding solder joint of a MEMS pressure sensor caused by the thermal cycling test was investigated with thermal cycling experiments and fatigue simulations. The results show that the maximum stress and strain occurred at the root of the solder joint on the substrate. With the accumulation of strain caused by thermal cycles, the bonding area of solder joint became smaller and the shear force of solder joints reduced to 22.3% after 1600 thermal cycles. The solder joints on the substrate failed after 1940 thermal cycles in plastic fatigue simulations and 3.16 × 108 thermal cycles in creep fatigue simulations. Plastic fatigue is the major factor for thermal failure of gold wire bonding.

The impact of Internet phenomena depends on how they im- pact users, but researchers lack visibility into how to translate Internet events into their impact. Distressingly, the research community seems to have lost hope of obtaining this infor- mation without relying on privileged viewpoints. We argue for optimism thanks to new network measurement methods and changes in Internet structure which make it possible to construct an “Internet traffic map”. This map would identify the locations of users and major services, the paths between them, and the relative activity levels routed along these paths. We sketch our vision for the map, detail new measurement ideas for map construction, and identify key challenges that the research community should tackle. The realization of an Internet traffic ma p wi ll be an In ternet-scale research effort with Internet-scale impacts that reach far beyond the research community, and so we hope our fellow researchers are excited to join us in addressing this challenge. TRUE pub

Does an outage impact any users? Can a geolocation database known to be good at locating users and bad at infrastructure be trusted for a particular prefix? Is a content-heavy network likely to peer with a particular network? For these questions and many more, knowing which prefixes contain Internet users aids in interpreting Internet analysis. However, existing datasets of Internet activity are out of date, unvalidated, based on privileged data, or too coarse. As a step towards identifying which IP prefixes contain users, we present multiple novel techniques to identify which IP prefixes host web clients without relying on privileged data. Our techniques identify client activity in ASes responsible for 98.8% of Microsoft CDN traffic and in prefixes responsible for 95.2% of Microsoft CDN traffic. Less than 1% of prefixes identified by our technique as active do not contact Microsoft at all. We present measurements of Internet usage worldwide and sketch future directions for extending the techniques to measure relative activity levels across prefixes.